Readers share memories and recipes for famous ’70s cake

Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 08:42 PM.

Debra Grigg has a lot of new friends in Shelby, but she doesn’t know them yet. Grigg sent me an email in September looking for a recipe for “Sock-It-To-Me” pound cake.

The morning the request was printed in The Star, my email was “socked” with responses. I continued to receive email responses all week long, as well as getting one by mail and another dropped by the office.

It’s the most response to a recipe request I’ve seen in my 27 years at The Star. I had to know what was so special about this cake.

I emailed the people who had sent the recipe. The first person to respond was Joan Boyd Filter of Shelby. She collects cookbooks, and especially likes the ones published by churches and organizations. She has about 300 in her collection.

A former resident of Gaston County, she found the “Sock-It-To-Me” recipe in a cookbook she purchased from a church there.

I emailed her to see if she had ever made the cake before and if she would consider making it so that we could get some photos for the paper. I hoped to schedule a time to go to her house with the ingredients and the photographer. But the next morning, I opened my email to find a reply from Filter, saying she had already made the cake and wanted to bring it by to be photographed.

When I met her later that afternoon, she explained that her husband had eye surgery the day before and she was home with nothing to do. She had most of the ingredients already and after she got my email, decided to spend the afternoon baking.

Debra Grigg has a lot of new friends in Shelby, but she doesn’t know them yet. Grigg sent me an email in September looking for a recipe for “Sock-It-To-Me” pound cake.

The morning the request was printed in The Star, my email was “socked” with responses. I continued to receive email responses all week long, as well as getting one by mail and another dropped by the office.

It’s the most response to a recipe request I’ve seen in my 27 years at The Star. I had to know what was so special about this cake.

I emailed the people who had sent the recipe. The first person to respond was Joan Boyd Filter of Shelby. She collects cookbooks, and especially likes the ones published by churches and organizations. She has about 300 in her collection.

A former resident of Gaston County, she found the “Sock-It-To-Me” recipe in a cookbook she purchased from a church there.

I emailed her to see if she had ever made the cake before and if she would consider making it so that we could get some photos for the paper. I hoped to schedule a time to go to her house with the ingredients and the photographer. But the next morning, I opened my email to find a reply from Filter, saying she had already made the cake and wanted to bring it by to be photographed.

When I met her later that afternoon, she explained that her husband had eye surgery the day before and she was home with nothing to do. She had most of the ingredients already and after she got my email, decided to spend the afternoon baking.

“I used to make cakes all the time to share with co-workers,” Filter said when she lifted the lid off the cake to reveal a lightly brown cake glistening with glaze. Immediately, the delicious aroma of cinnamon filled the makeshift photography studio.

Because she and her husband are eating healthier, she doesn’t bake as often. As soon as the photos were done, everyone who happened to be in the office, gathered for a sample. Moist and light, it was a great afternoon pick-me-up and just what the photographers needed before their Friday night football games, said photographer Brittany Randolph.

In all, 10 people shared the recipe: Paul Davis for his wife; Dylan Spivey for his grandmother; First Baptist pastor Tony Tench for his mother; and Gay Champion, Mrs. Filter, Annie Hardin, Alyce Blackwell, Cathey Noell , Merle Barrett and Ronnie (whose last name I couldn’t read).

Tench said he remembered his mother baking the cake for others and also getting his share.

“I am not remembering the taste completely – the glaze is what I remember,” Tench said. “Of course we were not living in Shelby in the 1970s to have seen the ‘Sock-It-To-Me’ cake recipe in The Star, but I remembered that my mother used to make a cake by that name. I asked her if she still had the recipe and she sent it to me from her home in Bristol, Va.”

Spivey said that his grandmother, Annie Blanton, hadn’t made the cake in several years, but she really liked it.

“And, now that it’s ‘back on her brain,’ she plans to make one some time soon,” Spivey said in his email.

Filter said she followed the recipe exactly and the result was a cake with a pretty ribbon of cinnamon and pecans. She said people might have trouble finding the butter recipe cake mix. Some of the other recipes submitted call for a plain yellow cake mix.

A friend of my mother’s said the cake is also known as “Honey Bun” cake. She buys the 9-inch square pans and makes two cakes, so that she has one to give away. That’s a great gift idea with the holidays just around the corner.

Because everyone is more health conscious, I found a lower calorie version and it’s included.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes, until cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool right side up for 25 minutes, then remove from pan.

Mix glaze and drizzle over cake.

Note: Some recipes use a 9- by 14-inch bake pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

FROM CATHEY NOELL

NOTE: Remove 2 tablespoons of the dry cake mix and reserve for the filling before proceeding.

1 box yellow cake mix

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

Make cake batter according to package directions and then add in the sour cream and mix just until combined.

Grease a Bundt or tube pan well, and coat bottom and sides lightly with a mixture of cinnamon sugar.

Filling

2 Tbs. of the reserved dry cake mix

2 Tbs. cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix with fingers until crumbly.

Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly on top and then top with remaining batter.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. May want to check cake after 45 minutes in case your oven runs hot .<

FROM ALYCE BLACKWELL

Found in an old church recipe book, dated 1990

1 package yellow cake mix

¾ cup Crisco oil

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs (1 at a time)

½ cup sugar

Filling

3 Tbs. brown sugar

1 cup pecans

3 tsp. cinnamon

Mix thoroughly all cake ingredients and beat for 2 minutes. Pour half of mixture into tube pan. Add filling mixture on top of batter. Pour remaining half of batter on top of Filling mixture. Bake at 324 degrees for 55 minutes. Let stand in pan for 15 minutes, before removing.

Low-Fat Coffee Cake With Cinnamon Streusel

Serves 12

Streusel

2 Tbs. light brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Coffee cake

1 package (9 ounces) yellow cupcake mix

1 Tbs. all- purpse flour

½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

½ cup water

2 Tbs. canola oil

1 large egg

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Position an oven rack in the center and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set it aside.

To make the streusel, in a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans until well combined.

To make the cake, in a large bowl, beat together the dry cake mix, flour, yogurt, water, oil, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Scrape ½ the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out evenly.

Sprinkle ½ the streusel mixture evenly over the batter in the pan. Scrape the remaining batter over the topping, spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the streusel topping over the cake batter.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Slice and serve while still a little warm.